52 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



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cases, carry tuberculosis with them. Tuberculous cows from one 

 registered herd of dairy cattle have been found in three dairy 

 herds of the State and were the first infected animals in two of 

 these herds and apparently so in the third. It is no longer safe 

 for any person, with a permanent herd of beef or dairy cattle, to 

 add animals to it without first testing them with tuberculin. This 

 is especially true of dairymen, who must soon either keep cows 

 free from tuberculosis or go out of the dairy business. The gen- 

 eral use of the tuberculin test, and that alone, will stop the spread 

 of tuberculosis among cattle. 



During the past few years the tuberculous cattle that were 

 found in a number of different herds were taken out and the prem- 

 ises disinfected. A subsequent re-test showed these herds to be 

 free from tuberculosis. In a number of herds, where the disease 

 was badly spread among the cattle, those affected were either iso- 

 lated or killed, as their value justified, and by the use of care the 

 disease is being stamped out. There is no herd so badly diseased 

 with tuberculosis but that with a small indemnity from the State 

 for those animals which it is necessary to slaughter, it will be 

 cheaper to the owner and to the State to stamp the disease out than 

 to leave it in. The fact that tuberculosis can be stamped out of any 

 herd has been thoroughly demonstrated. To let it exist in any 

 herd within this State is the falsest kind of economy. 



The tests of dairy cattle made so far, although limited in num- 

 ber, have revealed a condition of affairs in some dairies that is 

 truly repulsive. In one case, some 27 cows and heifers were found 

 diseased with tuberculosis. Some 20 head of the diseased cows 

 were being milked and the milk shipped to St. Louis. Five of these 

 cows showed marked clinical symptoms, such as the most filthy 

 abscesses about the throat and, in one case, in the udder. The milk 

 from these diseased cows was shipped to a milk dealer in St. Louis, 

 mixed in a vat with his general supply and thence distributed over 

 the city. While the diseased cows in this herd were still in use, 

 their owner became very ill with symptoms of tuberculosis and 

 later on died. Another notable case was one in which a high class 

 dairy was furnishing milk to wealthy residents of the West End in 

 St. Louis at a fancy price. Although the cows were apparently 

 healthy, the test shows about half of them to be diseased with 

 tuberculosis. Post-mortem examination on all condemned showed 

 all to be diseased. About one-half of the number condemned show- 

 ed extensive lesions on post-mortem, including large pockets of 

 pus among the internal organs. The examination of dairy cattle 



